The new Cotinus cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor in La Menitre, France. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Cotinus coggygria varieties having yellow foliage and compact habits for container production. The crossing resulting in this new variety was made during 2005.
The seed parent is Cotinus coggygria ‘Ancot’, unpatented, the pollen parent is Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, unpatented. The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection during 2009. Selection was made at a research nursery in La Menitre, France.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘MINCOJAU3’ was first performed in 2009 at a commercial nursery in La Menitre, France. Vegetative soft wood cuttings were used. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.